A power tool, such as a circular saw, generally includes a housing supporting a motor which rotatably drives a tool element, such as a saw blade. Typically, an operator's handle is integrally formed with the housing. In a circular saw, a shoe plate supports the saw on the surface of a workpiece.
In some circular saws, the housing is adjustable relative to the shoe plate to change the depth of cut of the saw blade. For example, the housing may pivot relative to the shoe plate about an axis adjacent the front of the shoe plate (front pivot depth adjustment) or about an axis adjacent the rear of the shoe plate (rear pivot depth adjustment). In another construction, the shoe plate is slidably lowered and raised relative to the housing (drop shoe depth adjustment). In each of these depth adjustment arrangements, when the depth of cut of the saw blade is adjusted, the position and/or orientation of the handle relative to the workpiece is also adjusted.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,516,324 discloses a modular housing system for a circular saw. The circular saw includes a single, one-piece housing having an interface portion which interchangeably mounts either a pivot adjust subassembly or a vertical (drop shoe) adjust subassembly for changing the depth of cut of the circular saw. The main handle can have either a “push handle” configuration or a “top handle” configuration. The selected handle component is slipped onto the one-piece field case and secured by fasteners.